Bangalore second most risky metro, says CM

Bangalore second most risky metro, says CM
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Bangalore is the second most risky metro in the country as far as road accidents go, said the Chief Minister.

Dharam Singh made out a strong case for a reliable, pollution-free, decongesting metro rail to replace private vehicles in polluted and traffic congested Bangalore. The CM's presentation was made before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week. Excerpts from the CM's presentation paint a disturbing picture.

According to the CM's information, the city registers 140.98 road accidents per one lakh population. The city witnessed 8,318 road accidents for a population of about 65 lakh in 2002, ranked next only to Mumbai that saw 157.29 accidents per one lakh population the same year.

The CM's data revealed that on an average two persons get killed and 18 injured in mishaps in the city each day.

There were other worrying facts that the CM placed before the PM in his Powerpoint presentation. Bangalore with its inferior roads and civic infrastructure had the country's highest vehicles per lakh population which was as high as 28,300.

The city also has the highest number of two-wheelers in India (16.58 lakh) that account for 74.4 per cent of the vehicles in the city. On an average 900 new vehicles are added to the total of 22.3 lakh, each day.

The city with all its existing and planned flyovers, underpasses, one-ways, dedicated bus lanes and other short and long term measures will not be able handle the unbridled growth in traffic.

Only a mass rapid transit system like the metro rail can bring relief, the CM pointed out and further discussed funding and support required from the Centre.

The metro, CM said would carry an average of 2,068 passengers per trip and cause zero pollution. Road accidents and traffic congestion in the city would reduce drastically as a large number of two wheeler riders are expected to switch to metro for transport once the project is operational, the CM reasoned.